The Listening Room: Miranda Lambert, The Orwells and more...

COUNTRY

Miranda Lambert

“Platinum”

RCA Nashville

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Miranda Lambert pegs herself “a fighter with a centerfold face” at the beginning of her fifth album, and even though they’re other songwriters’ words, they clearly know her well. The singer-songwriter (she wrote eight of the album’s 16 tracks) and wife of Blake Shelton is effectively tough ’n’ tender on “Platinum,” covering a wide array of musical styles while still staying rooted in country and seldom giving over to the modern pop trappings many of her peers trade in. She has no trouble going really old school in fact, as on the Texas-swing leavin’ song “All That’s Left” with the Time Jumpers or on the rootsy “Old S---” and the honky-tonk “Gravity is a Bitch.” Lambert and Carrie Underwood get into a hard rockin’ showdown on “Something’ Bad,” while her teaming with Little Big Town on “Smokin’ and Drinkin’” is surprisingly airy and ambient. “Holding on to You” is a soulful love song while “Two Rings Shy” is a clever kiss-off, and on “Priscilla,” clearly written especially for Lambert, she sings of convincing common ground between herself and Elvis Presley’s first wife. The punky “Little Red Wagon” feels a bit out of place on this 16-song set, but Lambert and her corps of ace studio hands redeem her on other highlights, including the poignant “Bathroom Sink,” “Babies Makin’ Babies” and the richly drawn “Another Sunday in the South.”

ROCK

The Orwells, “Disgraceland” (Canvasback/Atlantic) \*\*\*

If you think fuzzy guitars and songs about slasher flicks and making out on car hoods are part of the equation for great rock ’n’ roll, a) you’re right and b) the Orwells are your band. The youthful Chicago quintet sounds even more matured on “Disgraceland” than it did on its 2012 debut “Remember When,” tearing through these 11 tracks with lo-fi, garagey exuberance and libidos that would make Prince blush. There’s plenty of hooks and pop-caliber melodies here, too, and if the Orwells occasional wear influences like Nirvana and the Strokes on their sleeves, it never gets in the way of an exceptionally good time.

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